Review of "Hiroshima: Why the Bomb Was Dropped," narrated by Peter Jennings DVD version

Review of

Hiroshima: Why the Bomb Was Dropped, narrated by Peter Jennings DVD version

Five out of five stars

 Fifty years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was still difficult for there to be an impartial description of the context and consequences of the American dropping of the two nuclear weapons on what were essentially defenseless Japanese cities. As Jennings reports, when the Smithsonian Museum was developing an exhibit describing the bombings, some groups so strongly objected to the images of injured Japanese civilians that the museum felt forced to drop that feature and scale the exhibit down so that all that remained was the plane that delivered the first bomb to Hiroshima.

 Given the momentous nature of the decision to use nuclear weapons, the viewer will be surprised at how little debate there was over their use and how detached President Harry Truman was from the discussions. It truly was as if only the scientists understood the tremendous power of the weapons and the extensive destruction and loss of life there would be. It was truly an Earth-shattering event.

 Much of the context of the times has been lost to history, so modern observers generally cannot place themselves in the public mood after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The American military and public were aware of the high casualty numbers in the battle for the Japanese island of Okinawa and there was no reason to believe that any battle over the main Japanese islands would not be worse. Therefore, it can be argued that the use of the atomic weapons did in fact save lives, although it will not be conclusive, for it was possible that Japan could have suddenly surrendered. There is no evidence to support the oft-cited figure of one million American casualties if they were to invade the Japanese main islands.

 Peter Jennings and ABC news does an excellent job in doing a deep dive into the historical context of Harry Truman and how short a time he had in office when he had to make the decision to drop the atomic bombs. There were strong personalities around him that advocated their use with few and rather tepid statements of opposition.